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Sunday, April 1, 2018

US taxpayers forced to finance US meddling in Ukraine election in 2004, paid for special exit polls claiming US backed candidate won in disputed runoff election. US refused to accept results of 2004 Ukraine election until their candidate won-AP, Dec. 10, 2004

U.S. officials say the activities don't amount to interference in Ukraine's election, a Russian President Vladimir Putin alleges, but are part of the $1 billion the State Department spends each year [allegedly] trying to build democracy worldwide.

No U.S. money was sent directly to Ukrainian
political parties, the officials say. In most cases, it was funneled
through organizations like the Carnegie Foundation or through groups
aligned with Republicans and Democrats that organized election training,
with human rights forums or with independent news outlets.

For example, one group that got grants through
U.S.-funded foundations is the Center for Political and Legal Reforms,
whose Web site has a link to Yushchenko's home page under the heading
"partners." Another project funded by the U.S. Agency for International
Development brought a Center for Political and Legal Reforms official to
Washington last year for a three-week training session on political
advocacy.

"There's this myth that the Americans go into a
country and, presto, you get a revolution," said Lorne Craner, a former
State Department official who heads the International Republican
Institute, which received $25.9 million [US taxpayer dollars] last year to [allegedly] encourage democracy
in Ukraineand more than 50 other countries.

"It's not the case that Americans can get 2 million
people to turn out on the streets. The people themselves decide to do
that," Craner said.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said,
"There's accountability in place. We make sure that money is being used
for the purposes for which it's assigned or designated."

Since the Ukrainian Supreme Court invalidated the
results of the Nov. 21 presidential runoff, Russia and the United States
have traded charges of interference. A new election is scheduled for
Dec. 26."...

[Ed. note: The Ukraine election is none of the US's business. Would the US allow other countries to finance candidates and engineer exit polls for US elections? No wonder everyone hates the US.]

(continuing): "Opposition leaders, international monitors and Bush's
election envoy to Ukraine have said major fraud marred the runoff
between Yushchenko and current Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [not backed by US], who was
declared the winner.

Yushchenko [US backed] is friendlier toward Europe and the United
States than his opponent, who has Putin's support as well as backing
from the current Ukrainian government of President Leonid Kuchma. Putin
lauded Yanukovych during state visits to Ukraine within a week of both
the Oct. 31 election and the Nov. 21 runoff.

Yushchenko's backers say Russian support for
Yanukovych goes beyond Putin's praise and includes millions of dollars
in campaign funding and other assistance. Putin has said Russia has
acted "absolutely correctly" with regard to Ukraine.

Documents and interviews provide a glimpse into how U.S. money was spent inside Ukraine.

"Our money doesn't go to candidates; it goes to the
process, the institutions that it takes to run a free and fair
election," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Grants from groups funded by theU.S. Agency for
International Development[US taxpayers]also went to the International Center for
Policy Studies, a think tank that includes Yushchenko [the US and Soros backed candidate] on its supervisory
board. The board also includes several current or former advisers to
Kuchma, however.

IRI, Craner's Republican-backed group, used U.S.
[taxpayer] moneyto help Yushchenko arrange meetings with Vice President Dick
Cheney, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage and GOP leaders in
Congress in February 2003.

The State Department gave the National Democratic
Institute, a group of Democratic foreign policy experts, nearly $48
million [US taxpayer dollars] for [alleged] worldwide democracy-building programs in 2003. Former
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright chairs NDI's board of directors.

The NDI says representatives of parties in all the
blocs that participated in Ukraine's 2002 parliamentary elections have
attended its seminars to learn skills such as writing party platforms,
organizing bases of voter support and developing party structures.

NDI also has been a main financial and administrative backer of the
Committee of Voters of Ukraine, an election watchdog group that said the
presidential vote was not conducted fairly.

NDI also organized a 35-member team of election
observers headed by former federal appeals court Judge Abner Mikva for
the Nov. 21 runoff vote. IRI sent its own team of observers.

The [taxpayer funded] U.S. Agency for International Development also
funds the Center for Ukrainian Reform Education, which produces radio
and television programs aiming to educate Ukrainian citizens about
reforming their nation's government and economy. The center also
sponsors press clubs and education for journalists."